The present invention relates to the violin or viola shoulder rests and in particular to wooden base or bridge of a violin or viola shoulder rest.
Wooden bases of violin or viola shoulder rests are known in the art. They provide attractive appearance and relatively low weight.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,079,386 (Medakovic), 2,064,925 (Kolitsch) and 2,489,101 (Mills) disclose the possibility of making a shoulder rest bridge from, among other materials, wood, reference. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,591,164 (Klein) and 2,747,452 (Goldberger) disclose violin shoulder rests comprising velvet covered wooden elements.
The known wooden shoulder rests have an elongated wooden bridge or base with clamping members at each end of the base to secure the bridge to a violin. They are all made from a single piece of wood which is machined to the desired shape. Their disadvantage is that the bridge is quite stiff so that end members holding the clamps for securement to the violin are the only flexible parts that yield during the attaching of the shoulder rest to a violin. There is a tendency for such members to become loosened with the resulting disfunction of the shoulder rest. The appearance of single piece wood shoulder rest bridges is often unsatisfactory as the wood grain runs out of and into the top surface when the base is machined to become longitudinally arched as is usual with the bridge types of shoulder rests. Besides, the bases made from a single piece of wood may be unreliable as hidden structural defects may be present which go undetected until the shoulder rest is in use.
The users of violin shoulder rest usually require that the base which, in use, rests on the player's shoulder, have certain flexibility. The flexibility not only makes it more convenient to attach the shoulder rest to the violin but also provides a more comfortable support while playing of the violin. Too much flexibility, however, may cause the base member to brush against the bottom of the body of the violin during the playing, particularly if the player adjusts the height of the rest very low. Too much flexibility is also undesirable as the clamping force attaching the shoulder rest to the violin may be insufficient causing inadvertent detachment from the violin.
The object of the invention is to provide an improved shoulder rest which has a visually attractive wooden base or bridge but at the same time possesses an appropriate degree of flexibility and strength.